the most in-depth breakdown of the dudes that grace the cover of this month’s XXL, brought to you by J.D. of HipHopUpdate. enjoy.

check out XXL’s "Leaders of the New School" cover from last year:

So we’ve got a few legit MC’s in there – Lupe, Joell Ortiz, Saigon – One which actually dropped an lp. Then we’ve got Plies, Boosie, Gorilla Zoe, Rich Boy, Young Dro, Papoose & Crooked I. Some of them are cool for the music they make, but come on – this years list is on a whole different level.

I think a big difference between this years list and the previous years is that it is obviously HEAVILY influenced by who essentially took over the net in the past year. Just take a look: Charles Hamilton, Mickey Factz, Asher Roth – I don’t think they’ve put out a physical product yet in any form, unless people burned their internet mixtapes. To me, this shows an obvious progression in the industry about how these guys are taking the industry by storm via the internet. Whether this is a good or bad progression…that’s up to you guys – the consumers.

Let’s run down each artist in alphabetical order:

1) Ace Hood – I’m not gonna lie when I say I dig Ace’s style. Yea, he’s a southern rapper who gets in to the usual topics, but believe me when I say he can spit. Want proof? Click here , here , or listen to him hold his own in the latest BET Awards Cypher here . He actually has an album on the horizon, unlike almost all of the other artists on the list, so give him that. Unfortunately, his buzz has died down to nothing after he released "Cash Flow" and "Ride" and the album has gotten pushed back. Bottom line: He’s above average, but he shouldn’t be on the list. REJECT .

2) Asher Roth - Asher is a phenomena in the industry. He’s a guy from the burbs who just has a lyrical ability to flow and come up with witty lyrics that people find entertaining. Times have changed people. Rap isn’t just for artists from Brooklyn – it’s a universal language that a lot of people of all ages, colors and classes embrace. Give the kid props – he doesn’t try to be anything he’s not. He doesn’t rap about anything he isn’t familiar with. He just does him. I’m not the biggest fan, but I recognize he’s getting love from EVERYONE in the industry nowadays. Bottom line: His appeal, lyrical ability and support should produce some quality material. ACCEPT .

3) Blu. I named Blu one of the artists to watch for in 2008 last year and he’s produced quality product after quality product. I like how he’s always doing collabo projects with DJ’s and other artists. Not a whole lot to really say except I can see his reign getting bigger in 2009. Bottom line: Blu is consistent with material and embraced by the net as a quality artist…he can only get bigger. ACCEPT

4) B.O.B. People seem to either love or hate B.O.B. I admit that I wasn’t up on the guy until recently, but I’m glad I decided to start getting in to his material. With his most recent placement on T.I.’s latest album and the amount of support he’s been getting from heavy hitters, this artist is being set up to win. At this point, it’s just a matter of execution and sticking to his unique style. Bottom line – B.O.B. is a unique artist with an appeal reaching outside of hardcore hip hop heads. ACCEPT

5) Charles Hamilton – I’m so-so with Hamilton, meaning I’ll listen to one song of his and enjoy it and then skip to the second song and think what the hell is this guy talking about. I think the best thing about Charles Hamilton is his ability to be diverse and produce. I think his gift & curse is that he’s stated he "doesn’t care" if you don’t like his material – because he’s gonna continue to do what he knows – on the flip side, his laid back, careless demeanor turns people off…and I know this because I read the comments people leave about him and the articles sites write about his music. Bottom line – Charles Hamilton has a lot of talent and an extremely strong internet following. I think he should cut it out with the mixtapes and oversaturating the web, because when his album drops, people are just gonna treat it like another mixtape and steal it offline. ACCEPT

6) Corey Gunz – Little do people know that Corey Gunz has been doin his thing for a little while now. I’m gonna go out and say his major break was on Wayne’s "A Milli" in which he murdered it. In fact, every track he’s put out since then, he’s come up with pretty good material. Bottom Line – I honestly can’t see Gunz selling "A Milli" himself, but if he gets the right people backing him, I’m sure 2009 will be his breakout year. ACCEPT

7) Curren$y – The former Young Money underboss and go to guy for Lil Wayne, alongside Mack Maine. He’s got a lot of potential and has dropped some nice material via mixtapes. He dropped his supposed "last mixtape" like a month ago…sooo….does that mean an album? I think not. I personally think dude is just average and I can’t see him dropping a full length album via a major label this coming year. His best chance was on the Young Money imprint. Bottom line: Curren$y has been a fan favorite, but he missed his best shot to do anything significant beside mixtapes. REJECT .

Kid Cudi. Cudi is an obvious personal favorite of mine and he’s been featured on HipHopUpdate numerous times. Why is 2009 his year? The amount of buzz just one mixtape of material has caused is ridiculous. He’s been dubbed by Kanye West himself the next big artist. He has just about all the young gunners and the big names checking for his material. Oh, and he raps, sings and acts (he’s signed on to a new show to debut on HBO). Multitalented and he reaches out to people cross-genre’s. His situation at G.O.O.D. Music isn’t bad either. Bottom Line – Love him or hate him, Cudi makes great, melodic music that appeals to a wide audience. No gun talk here. ACCEPT

9) Mickey Factz. Hmmm. Mickey Factz. I’m not sure what to say about him. He makes good music, but to me, that’s all it is. Good freakin music. The problem I have is that yes, he has a great web following due to major sites/blogs featuring him, but if you replaced him with Sugar Tongue Slim, Mickey Halsted, Consequence, GemStones and many others – I wouldn’t be upset. Bottom Line – a great artist that puts on a good show, but he could easily be replaced by a slew of other up and comers. No hate at all – because like I said, Factz is a very good artist…I just see the industry moving along fine if he were replaced. REJECT

10) Wale. You all know my stance on Wale – I was the first to put dude on at a national level, media-wise, and I’m proud I got the opportunity to do so. Before you say Wale isn’t that special – again, check for the artists we were accepting the past two years. Wale is the definition of how an artist should be developed having already toured the world with Mark Ronson and doing collabo’s with the biggest and most reputable names in the industry. Whether he’ll sell in this day and age – who knows. Bottom line – Above average talent who has done a great job of setting himself up for success. Album in March. ACCEPT

SO WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN ON THE LIST THAT DIDN’T MAKE IT?
This dude above first and foremost. Drake. He’s just signed to Interscope. He’s got Lil Wayne as an executive for his album. He rips almost anything and everything. I think if Big Sean of G.O.O.D. music had put out additional material beside his one mixtape, he could have been included. GemStones aka Gemini of Lupe’s 1st & 15th family. Again, if he had put out more consistent material, I think he could have been included. Some people are saying the Cool Kids should have been on the list – but why the Cool Kids and not Kidz in the Hall? Wiz Khalifa? Sure…he’s already signed on Warner Bros. but he needs to get back to that tough lyricism he displayed on his first mixtapes. Some people were saying Termanology, but I think since he’s already put out a lot of material via Statik Selektah and his own album, XXL just wanted to focus on people who haven’t had a major release yet.

Anyone else who should have made the list? Any notables? Are you happy with the state of hip hop and its up and comers? Feel free to leave comments and critique my own evaluation.

****edit – just came across THIS POST, which essentially says the same thing which I initially said – how the guys featured by XXL are the main guys who ran the blog game this past year or so. Also, HERE is a more critical view.

AND YO! a mixtape for y’all, featuring the best tracks by these 10 MC’s, so if you don’t know much about these guys, look no further. check them out here.